Cartridge belt

ABSTRACT

A cartridge belt for automatic firearms includes a plastic strip having transverse, spaced grooves for receiving the cartridges, the central transverse portions of the areas of the belt between the grooves being molecularly oriented to permit hinging of the belt without deformation of adjacent portions of the belt so as to improve flexibility of the belt.

United States Patent Rausing 1451 Dec. 19, 1972 1 CARTRIDGE BELT 2.472.861 6/1949 Schaich ..s9/35 3.349,? 10 10/1967 Sponimo ....89/35 [72] lnventor. Gad Anders Reusing, Lund. Sweden 3'50345 [1970 Wolfe Wag/35 [7 3] Assignee; Laden Enterprises Llmitcd Hamil- 1,290,842 1/19 I 9 Mottin ..89/35 on. Bermuda 3,210,931 10/1965 Elzufon et al. ..s9/33 BC [22] Filed: March 12, 1970 Primary Examiner-Samuel Feinberg Appl. No.'. 19,045

Foreign Application Prlorlty Date March 17, 1969 Sweden ..3623/69 US. Cl. .89/35 R Int. Cl ..F42b 39/08 Field of Search ....89/35 R, 35 A, 33 BB, 33 BC,

89/33 C, 33 CA; 102/43 P [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,103,170 9/1963 Covington, Jr. et a1. l02/43 P Assistant ExaminerC. T. Jordan Attorney-Pierce, Scheffler & Parker [57] ABSTRACT 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 19 I972 3,706, 260

IN VENTOR Gad Anders Raus m PM JJ AQ PNL Auom s CARTRIDGE BELT The present invention relates to a cartridge belt of the kind used to feed ammunition to automatic firearms.

Belts are often used for supplying ammunition to automatic firearms, and the cartridges are removed from the belt by a loading movement and fed into the cartridge chamber of the firearm. Belts of textile material and belts made up of metal links joined together are known, and the cartridges with these known belts have to be either pulled out of the belts backwards and then inserted in the cartridge chamber or pushed forward from the belt and into the cartridge chamber.

In all known cases belt-fed ammunition has been composed of cartridges with a metal case, in which a propelling charge and a projectile are accommodated. As the metal case constitutes a substantial part of the cost of a cartridge, attempts have been made to eliminate the case by making the cartridge instead as a pressed powder body, in which the projectile, end seal and percussion charge are embedded. Since the powder body cannot be made with unlimited homogeneity, these cartridges without a case are relatively fragile and they do not stand up to the mechanical strains to which a cartridge is exposed with the cartridge belts known hitherto.

The disadvantages mentioned above are avoided by the present invention, which relates to a cartridge belt that is characterized in that the belt is of principally plastic material, and arranged at equal distances along the belt are grooves, which are produced by a plastic deformation of the belt material and which grooves are arranged at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the belt, and that cartridges are fitted in the said grooves and that a strip of thin, easily severed film material, which is sealed to the said belt in the areas between the grooves and which in the areas of the grooves makes close contact with the cartridges fitted in the grooves for the purpose of retaining them in position in the belt until the cartridges are fed into the auto matic firearm.

The invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawing, in which FIG. I shows a part of the belt provided with grooves,

FIG. 2 shows a section through the finished cartridge belt,

FIG. 3 shows the cartridge belt seen from above, and

FIG. 4 shows a portion of the cartridge belt after the cartridges have been fired.

FIG. 1 shows a portion ofa plastic belt 1 of relatively stiff material, e.g. high-density polyethylene polypropylene, polyvinylchloride or similar. In the present case it is assumed that the belt is made of highdensity polyethylene of approximately two millimeters thickness and that in the belt 1 equally spaced grooves 2 have been formed by heating the material to plasticization and then imparting the desired shape. After the material has cooled again the.grooves 2 will remain in the belt. To make the belt more flexible it can be advantageous to treat, by means of heat and pressure, the center part 3 of the portion 5 between consecutive grooves for the purpose of obtaining a molecular orientation in the said part 3, which will cause the part 3 to act as a hinge", which can easily be pivoted without the portion between two consecutive "hinges being appreciably deformed by bending.

Naturally the width and depth of the grooves 2 are adapted in such a way that the cartridges intended for the belt fit into the said grooves 2. The space intended for the cartridges is designated 4 in FIG. I.

FIG. 2 shows a section through a part of a finished cartridge belt and as the figure shows, the cartridges 6 are placed in the grooves 2. The cartridges 6 are kept in place in the grooves 2 by means of a thin strip of film 7, which can easily be severed in the transverse direction and which preferably, but not necessarily, has the same width as the belt I. The strip of film 7 is sealed on the belt 1 in the areas 8, which correspond at least partially to the areas 5 on the belt I, i.e. the areas between consecutive grooves 2. Between consecutive sealings 8, which are suitably made by ultrasonics, but can also be made by heat, the strip of film 7 extends across the cartridges 6 fitted in the grooves 2 and keeps them in place in the grooves 2.

We assume in the case in question that the cartridges have no case, which means that the unprotected propelling charge is sensitive to mechanical strains and can easily be broken or split when it is subjected to stress. As the cartridges 6 are kept in place in the grooves 2 by means of the film 7, the cartridges are protected from mechanical strain, and the belt 1 can be rolled up without damaging the cartridges 6.

FIG. 3 shows the cartridge belt seen from above with the cartridges 6 fitted in the grooves 2. As shown in the drawing, the projectile 11 can protrude outside the belt I, but since the projectile of caseless ammunition is usually embedded with the propelling charge, it would be safer to make the belt 1 wide enough for the whole length of the cartridge 6 to be accommodated in the grooves 2. The film strip 7 should be stretched in the transverse direction, so that the strip will be transversely oriented and easy to tear in that direction.

When the ammunition is to be used, the belt is fed into the automatic firearm in a known way, so that the belt is brought forward, cartridge by cartridge, to face the cartridge chamber of the firearm. By means of an insertion mechanism the cartridge is pressed out of the cartridge belt and into the cartridge mechanism. In order to get the cartridge out of the belt easily, the insertion mechanism mentioned, but not shown, should be provided with a cutting device or the like, which will initiate a cut in the edge of the film strip 7, whereupon the strip is easily severed and the cartridge 6 will be released simultaneously. As shown in FIG. 4, a spent cartridge belt will exhibit loose edges of film 9, which are fragments of the strip 7 stretched across the grooves 2.

In order to facilitate the location of the belt in the firearm, one or both edges of the belt can be provided in a known way with a perforation 10, which permits accurate guiding of the belt.

The advantages of the belt according to the invention are that it is cheap to manufacture and can be thrown away after firing. It is particularly applicable in conjunction with caseless ammunition, as the cartridges will receive good mechanical protection from the belt. If the cartridge belt is loaded with caseless ammunition, it assumes an obviously expendable character, as there are no remains of the cartridges to take care of and the belt is just torn ofi and thrown away. An essential advantage of the cartridge belt according to the invention is that it has a very light weight as compared with known cartridge belts.

2. A cartridge belt as claimed in claim 1 wherein the high density plastic material is selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride.

3. A cartridge belt as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for retaining cartridges in said grooves comprises a relatively thin strip of transversely oriented plastic material passing over the cartridges in said grooves and sealed to the said belt between adjacent transverse grooves.

t i i I I 

1. A cartridge belt for use with automatic firearms comprising a belt composed essentially of a relatively stiff high density plastic material provided with a plurality of transverse, Substantially semicylindrical, spaced grooves therein for receiving cartridges, the central transverse portions of said belt between adjacent grooves being molecularly oriented to permit transverse hinging of the belt at the central portions without deforming adjacent portions of the belt, and means for retaining cartridges in said grooves.
 2. A cartridge belt as claimed in claim 1 wherein the high density plastic material is selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride.
 3. A cartridge belt as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for retaining cartridges in said grooves comprises a relatively thin strip of transversely oriented plastic material passing over the cartridges in said grooves and sealed to the said belt between adjacent transverse grooves. 